Accounting for change

Aug. 19, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 12:28 p.m.

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El Dorado High's football head coach Michael Crawford shows great enthusiasm as his players make great stops during a one to one drill during their first full speed full pads practices at El Dorado High's football field. ED CRISOSTOMO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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El Dorado High's football head coach Michael Crawford, right, and defensive coach Ryan Koh cheer on their players during a one to one drill during their first full speed full pads practices at El Dorado High's football field. ED CRISOSTOMO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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From left El Dorado High's football players Victor Gonzales, Garrett Stanley, Jacob Sanchez, Nathan Padron, Richard Wilcox, and Ethan Bernstein rest after their first full speed full pads practices at El Dorado High's football field. ED CRISOSTOMO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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El Dorado High's quarterback Jacob Romero fires a pass down field during their first full speed full pads practices at El Dorado High's football field. ED CRISOSTOMO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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El Dorado High's football head coach Michael Crawford, right, gathers his players and applauded their hard work after their first full speed full pads practices at El Dorado High's football field. ED CRISOSTOMO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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El Dorado High's football players run some plays during their first full speed full pads practices at El Dorado High's football field. ED CRISOSTOMO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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El Dorado High's football player Jacob Ewing, right, beats his man to the end zone during their first full speed full pads practices at El Dorado High's football field. ED CRISOSTOMO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

El Dorado High's football head coach Michael Crawford shows great enthusiasm as his players make great stops during a one to one drill during their first full speed full pads practices at El Dorado High's football field. ED CRISOSTOMO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Game to Watch

Sept. 6 at Yorba Linda

El Dorado came within an unsuccessful two-point conversion of defeating postseason-bound Yorba Linda last season. The Golden Hawks' 15-14 home loss in the second game of 2012 marked a vast improvement from the three-score shellacking the Mustangs laid on them in 2011. Can El Dorado get over the hump this fall?

Key Stat

3

The annual El Modena High-El Dorado High Century League game has been decided by three points in each of the last three seasons. The teams have alternated victories: The Golden Hawks triumphed, 20-17, in 2010, then fell, 34-31, a year later. El Dorado defeated its rival, 42-39, last season.

A semicircle engulfs an El Dorado placekicker just behind the 30-yard line.

It’s nearing the end of an offseason practice and first-year head coach Michael Crawford has raised the stakes: double or nothing.

A second missed field goal will have the entire team running wind-sprints.

“You look at the consistency of a Villa Park and a Foothill,” said Crawford, just as his kicker splits the uprights, “and not just the players they have, but their coaching, their consistency executing.

“You don’t watch them on film beating themselves.”

Crawford is a relationships guy.

He’s a former Orange Lutheran football player and coach who learned accountability from some of the best high school coaches around. (He coached under Mater Dei savant Bruce Rollinson last fall.)

He arrived at El Dorado in March, and immediately began instilling those same philosophies.

“The biggest struggle for these guys was getting used to me holding them to a new standard,” Crawford said. “Grade checks every two weeks. I’m checking their Twitter accounts, Instagram, their facebook.

“They’re accountable for not just themselves, but for the name on their uniform, this community and this school.”

More than 15 players quit this offseason as a result.

El Dorado is whizzing along, regardless, and taking aim at the very programs its coach has imitated.

“In the Trinity League there are more Division I athletes going to play college football,” Crawford said. “But at the end of the day, there are tons of high school kids on those teams who are just like my kids here.

“What was important to me was to prove that to them.”

To do so, Crawford put the Golden Hawks in offseason passing tournaments against, among others, St. John Bosco, Mater Dei and Servite.

“There we learned how to play as a team, and not as individuals as we did last year,” said senior quarterback Jacob Romero. “If we can play well against Division 1 teams, on offense and on defense, then that gives us a lot of confidence.”

El Dorado hasn’t won more than four games in a season since 2009.

All told, Crawford will chase much more than victories in 2013.

“Success is the definition of unselfishly giving your best on a daily basis,” he said. “And if we’re doing that, the game will take care of itself.”

***

FIVE QUESTIONS WITH STEVEN GALVAN

HAWKS LINEBACKER PREPARES TO MAKE THE LEAP

El Dorado High senior linebacker Steven Galvan and first-year head coach Michael Crawford both have Trinity League roots.

Galvan played freshman football at St. John Bosco of Bellflower. Crawford, meanwhile, coached at Orange Lutheran for nine years (2003-11) and assisted at Mater Dei last fall.

Together, they will attempt to reshape El Dorado’s football program in the likeness of a Pac-5 Division power.

“They’re very similar in how the program is run, in the moral of the team, the strength and conditioning, the coaches,” said Galvan of the similarities between his two high school stops.

Only time will tell if El Dorado is capable of reaching the plateau of its Division 1 brethren.

If it is, then 2013 will ultimately mark the beginning of a Century League régime.

Q.What did Coach Crawford’s decision to coach at El Dorado mean to you?

A. He believes in us, and he wants us to push our own limits to get stronger, and to be more of a team when we’re playing. For us to defend and attack against other schools, we need to be able to come together and play as a team.

Q.How quickly did he implement his regimens?

A. Pretty quickly. It didn’t take long before we got into the groove of grueling practices, strength and conditioning, going into practice, and then cooling down to make sure our bodies were alright. Nutrition and protein, too. Everything he’s been doing has really helped.

Q.How has the team benefitted from being held accountable for each other’s actions?

A. It gives us a chance to come together and understand that we’re here for each other, and that we’ll all fight for each other. That gives us a feeling for how the games will be. In game situations, you need your teammates to have your back.

Q.Was there any trepidation last season playing against bigger schools?

A. Last year, yes, because of the reputation that those schools had as top dogs. This year, though, since we’ve already gone into passing tournaments with Trinity League schools, I think we can really hang with all those teams.

Q.What will ultimately be a successful senior year?

A. We need to make the most that we can out of this season. It’s our last year of high school, and I’m lucky enough to be blessed with the opportunity to play in college – but that’s not a sure thing because there are always injuries. So we need to make sure that we can make what we have last.

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